Here I am looking into the eyes of my new ex-boyfriend.
Justin Cramer—myJustin—is acheat.
Knox
“Janelle?”A sharp pain spears straight through my skull at the sight of this fucker with his arms still wrapped around my girlfriend, his face red with lipstick, but I’m about to turn it into bloodforhim.
Without giving it another thought, I pluck the asshole off her and start pummeling his face in. A pair of arms comes up from behind and does their best to snatch me off him, but I’m not budging. I’ve never been so determined to kill anyone inmylife.
“Who the fuck do you think you are accosting my girlfriend like that?” I get a few good hits to his eye, and I can feel it swelling beneathmyhand.
“Knox!” Lawson barks in my ear as he struggles to get a grip on my arms. “Get the helloffhim!”
“Call the police!” I shout over my shoulder. “Get Jen to the side and make sureshe’sokay!”
The dude shoves his palm under my chin, and I nearly bite my tongue off. A burst of my own blood is disappointingly the first of theevening.
A body launches me to the wall, and it takes a second for me to see that it’s Rush who has my face smashed against the woodpaneling.
“Shit.” He spins me around and gives me a solid shove to the chest. “You nearly killedthatkid!”
“Thatkidhad Jen pinned in the closet against her will!” I bark back and the small crowd around mestills.
“Justin?” Harper drops to her knees as the dude struggles to rise up on hiselbows.
“Justin?” I stagger forward enough to get a better look at the douchebag, and sure enough, I recognize that fucked-up look on his preppy face. “Shit.” My gaze drifts slowly to Janelle as the air grows thick and heavy like a baddream.
Her face is smeared with crimson as if someone shoved her head into a cherry pie. It looks horrifically violent, nothing anyone would voluntarily do to themselves, and it’s only then I notice her blouse is unbuttoned down the front, the outline of her bra underneath. And just as I’m about to comfort her from the horrors she’s just experienced, she glances to him with a look of genuineconcern.
“Dude”—Lawson does his best to pull me to the side, but I prove unmovable—“I tried towarnyou.”
My mind races with all the possibilities, but it’s when my eyes lock with hers that I know. Janelle backs up and gives a halfhearted effort to wipe the junk off her face. But she doesn’t say a word—she doesn’t say the only word I want to hear,sorry.
It looks like the only sorry one around hereisme.
I shoot past the bodies and get as far as the stairwell beforepausing.
“Crap.” I pinch my eyes with my fingers as hard as I can before turning around and heading back. I hit the corridor in time to spot Jen helping Justin limp through the crowd and shake my head, stunnedasshit.
Lawson and Grant head over and I hold a hand up. I can’t even face the dudes. Instead, I delve deeper into the hall where the girls huddle aroundHarper.
“Hey.” I latch onto her eyes and make her hold my gaze. “I just wanted to say I’msorry.”
“Sorry?” Her eyes are red as road maps, her lips and face bloated from the tears already soaking her cheeks. “Please. I bet you knew what they were up to the entire time. Why else would you have told me my relationship was doomed five minutes untiltouchdown?”
I’m not quite sure I get the football reference she’s trying to invoke, but I get it. She feels like shit. I should know. SodoI.
“I did know he was cheating on you.” There. I should have probably told her exactly that an hour ago instead of bashing my head against the wall. “I just didn’t know with whom.” I turn around and head forthedoor.
Lawson and Grant come up on either side of me, whispering something that sounds as grim as a eulogy, but I can’t make it out. I don’t have it in me to listen. The crowded room gives way to balmy night air as I walk at a steady pace down the street. It takes a good half a block for me to even notice that Rushford Knight is walking alongside me. I’ve known Rush a while now. He’s sort of a permanent fixture whenever Lawson is around. He doesn’t say anything, though, just keeps pace and his nose to the wind. And I can appreciate it. It’s about the only damn thing I can appreciate rightaboutnow.
I hit the house and nod over to him before heading inside and bolting the doorbehindme.
Fish comes up and circles around my feet, and I give him a quick scratch behind his feline ears before gettingintobed.
I don’t plan on climbing out anytimesoon.
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